Synopsis

How to Do Nothing With Nobody All Alone by Yourself by Robert Paul Smith, Paul Collins

Remember how to make a spool tank? How to whip apples? What to do with a discarded umbrella? Whether pennies comes before or after spank the baby in mumbly-peg? And your kid never knew any of these things in the first place, to forget in the second place? Robert Paul Smith remembers, and he has set it down for all to see -- these things and many others, like rubber-band guns, and slings, and clamshell bracelets, and the collection, care, and use of horse-chestnuts. This book frees children from video games for a few hours, a handbook on the avoidance of boredom, a primer on solitude -- a child's declaration of independence. It reveals how to do nothing with nobody all alone by yourself -- real things, fascinating things, the things that we and our parents did as kids. It's a book for kids, but parents are not prohibited from reading it.

Reviews

Every great book reminds us that we're all alone in the world. At least this one provides us with the means to entertain ourselves while we're here. -- Lemony Snicket It's what you'd get if you crossed the Boy Scout Handbook with The Anarchist's Cookbook, and it's definitely the wildest how-to manual I've seen this year. --Greg Cowles, The New York Times Paper Cuts blog What a joy to give children something they can do without 'hollering for help'...How to Do Nothing with Nobody All Alone by Yourself is replete with the sort of fun that childhood should be, and too rarely is. --Blogcritics.com His book is timeless and remarkably timely in both spirit and hands-on ingenuity. --Brainpickings Had I known about it, Robert Paul Smith's 1958 book, 'How to Do Nothing with Nobody All Alone by Yourself,

-gritty on the first page: 'These are things you can do by yourself,

. 'You don't need any help from your mother or your father or anybody.' --Laurie Hertzel, Minneapolis Star Tribune This classic 1958 guide reintroduces kids to those natural urges that have to turn random objects into crazy great stuff...Readers will love that everything in this book was invented by kids and passed along by kids, that nothing costs money and that each of the projects is a seat-of-the-pants creation. --Where the Best Books Are! You'll never hear 'I'm bored